


seeing stars

by tome



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Character Study, Drabble Collection, F/M, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2020-01-07 07:25:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18405920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tome/pseuds/tome
Summary: Moments big, moments small, moments theirs.





	1. the sinner and the saint

Being alive isn't a sin, she told him--brow furrowed, jaw set, feet planted, challenging him, indignant through tears she shed for him, golden flames of the setting sun a glorious wreath around her head.   
  
Being alive isn't a sin, she taught him--fingers hesitantly intertwined, giggles smothered down in kisses, moans bitten into skin, “You can have this,” she whispered when he pulled away, when he started choking on the ash settled permanently in his lungs, “You're allowed to live.”   
  
Being alive isn't a sin, he knows--but he is, she isn't, and Hell is a place on Earth.


	2. shining

Autumn breezes slip through the gaps in the rooftop fence. Minako leans into it, watching him.

Clouds roll low, promising rain, but through the gloom, Akihiko looks towards the ocean with an hours-old grin. Bright and brilliant, a star that shines just for her. She beams back, but she knows there's no matching him.

From the corner of his eye, he catches her staring. “What?” he splutters, chuckle spilling and lips twitching.

She giggles, bashful. “You're beautiful.” 

His cheeks bloom red, and he presses them to the icy metal of the fence as he barks a shaky laugh. “Shut up.”


	3. snug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by [a sketch by noctilin](https://twitter.com/noctilin/status/1099192485484449792?s=19)

With the door locked, curtains drawn, and lamplight dim, the world is theirs.

Akihiko drifts in and out of consciousness. Minako massages circles on his scalp, humming a tune he can't recognize. It vibrates through him, low and gentle, as he holds her against his chest.

He opens his eyes and meets hers. She giggles into a kiss on his nose, and he nuzzles his forehead into hers.

“Why,” he murmurs, chuckling, husky from drowsing, “do you like me so much?”

He feels her laughter in her warm breath on his lips. “Because with you, I finally have a home.”


	4. serendipity

Akihiko is headed to the command room when he stops.

The new leader, Arisato, twirls up and down the hallway. Headphones on, she jams on an air guitar and stomps her feet. She doesn't notice him, but why should she? Music carries her like wind carries leaves, and she's in a whirlwind.

He watches, smile widening into a grin. It'd be nice to have a workout partner, and she'd probably keep up with him. He'll offer.

Imagining Arisato saying “yes” with one of her winning smiles sends butterflies swarming his chest.

Weird. Must be excitement for a change, he decides.


	5. sludge

12:01 AM. Minako already feels it happening. Limbs sagging, lungs collapsing. Blood leaden, organs sludge. Tired, so tired, eyelids so heavy that blinking risks never opening them again.

Death doesn't scare her, but dying?

With cheers and tears, SEES makes it back to the dorm. Everyone but she and Akihiko enter.

Barely a breath, and his lips crash into hers. Trembling, terrified, he holds her as if she'll float away.

“Mina.” His voice is hoarse even for a whisper, and she remembers him screaming for her. “Don't leave me again.”

She buries her sobs into his vest. “I'm sorry.”


	6. sugar

Akihiko fidgets, oddly quiet as he pokes their cake with his fork. Only three bites in and he taps out, not that Minako minds. She polishes it off with glee, and, for some reason, his smile is warmer than she's ever seen it.

Outside, he comes clean. Unsurprised but confused, she frowns at him. If he doesn't like sweets, then why…?

He hides his face, but his ears redden. “I heard girls like eating sweet things, so…”

_ Oh. _

To Akihiko, today was only for her.

“Senpai…” Minako laughs, blushing with him. “That cake  _ wishes _ it was as sweet as you.”


	7. some sort of sickness

Akihiko wants to ask if she and Shinjiro are a thing.

He shouldn't, so he doesn't, but his drink is bitter on his tongue as he watches them from the kitchen.

It's Junpei all over again, except more. He sees how Shinjiro is around her--smiles open, body relaxed, laughs free. He sees it because he knows exactly how wonderful it feels being with her.

Shinjiro glances his way. Akihiko dumps out his drink and leaves for his room.

Nauseous, chest aching, bones hollow, he can't fathom how someone makes him feel this way.

His head falls into his hands.


	8. sudden

_ Holy shit, I love her. _

It's not that Akihiko forgets. How could he? But sometimes, the wind tosses her hair in a halo around her, or her singing carries through the dorm, or she laughs with a joy so infectious that it leaves him breathless, and  _ holy shit, _ he loves her.

And sometimes, Minako smiles at him with starry eyes and rosy cheeks, or her fingers intertwine with his and her thumb strokes his knuckles, or she curls up against him with her head over his heart, and the world bursts into brilliant technicolor because,

_ Holy shit, she loves me. _


	9. soulless

Dust collects faster than he thought. Maybe he never noticed because she'd never let it get this bad. Ancient grey washes out all the brightness from the pink comforter she'd loved.

Her bed is perfectly made, not a single wrinkle to be had. She'd prepared it for this.

He lifts her pillow to his nose. It only smells like dust.

His gaze settles on her pinned calendar. March 1st through 4th are crossed out, but the 5th is circled with a massive red heart. Everything after is blank, and always will be.

He's done. He'll pack her things another day.


	10. such sweet sorrow

The words she wants to say can't reach her tongue, but somewhere, Minako finds the energy to lift a hand to his face. Her vision blurs, so she feels his smile rather than sees it, but  _ damn, _ had she missed it.

She presses her head to his chest and he holds her closer. His pulse is a stuttering, exploding  _ “I love you” _ that rings out to her with perfect clarity despite how far she's drifting.

He's warm, but Minako only gets colder.

He strokes her hair with a shaking hand and tells her to get some rest. Sleep sounds wonderful.


	11. striking

Huh.

He really is attractive.

The thought takes Minako by surprise while they're eating quietly at Hagakure, and she's not sure why. After all, nearly every girl in school gushes about him.

Maybe it's because she'd been daydreaming about Tartarus.

A Shadow once nicked Akihiko's forehead. Blood coating his face like war paint, he ruined his preppy white button-up wiping his eyes. He’d flashed her a wicked grin made of fire and lightning that arced straight into her chest, jolting her heart off-beat.

Akihiko finishes his bowl and catches her staring. He grins again. Sheepish, shy, but just as electric.


	12. sisyphus

A mother and father gone too soon to be anything more than formless haze, too wispy to even call them a memory.

A sister with a body of ashes indistinguishable from those of the wood that burned with her.

A brother, twin in soul, separated by a sea of blood he'd soon drown himself in, anchored by the ghost shackled to his ankles.

A girl with the strands of fate wrapped in an invisible noose around her neck, an extinguished sun hanging over the wilted garden he'd made for her.

At what point, he wonders, does tragedy become a pattern?


	13. sleepless

There's a knot in Akihiko's stomach with Minako's name on it. Has been for days.

It ties and unties itself inside him as he lays sleeplessly in bed, innards twisting and entire body buzzing.

Tingling limbs and the weakness in his chest remind him of cracked ribs and sprained shoulders. He feels wrong, out of place in his own body, and it's her smile on his mind that's to blame.

He hasn't craved the warmth of a shared bed since Miki.

Akihiko groans. Pitiful, exhausted, he curls around himself, his hands covering his face.

He just needs space. That's all.


	14. shiver

Meteorologists say this is the coldest January in years. Minako finds it true in more ways than one.

Icy gusts scatter littered posters, and cloudless blue skies only serve to highlight bloodred graffiti. Sitting at the playground, all she hears is children chattering between games about their upcoming demise.

"Hey… c'mere." Akihiko doesn't wait for a response, tucking her underneath his coat. "You're shivering."

It's too thin to block the wind, but it's the warmth of the person who holds her that protects her from the chill inside her heart.

Wordlessly, he promises, _"Everything will be okay."_ She stops shivering.


	15. stupefied

Minako ducks her head, expression swimming with emotions Akihiko can't discern. "But… what about now?" she asks softly.

That… was a good question.

For a moment, Akihiko stares. He doesn't have the words to say the way his heart races and his stomach backflips. He can't explain the tingling, the nervousness, the drowning.

It doesn't help that it's happening even now, with the wind brushing her hair over her cheeks and the late-afternoon light catching her red irises. Fuzzy, feverish warmth fills him and swallows every thought.

But…

He's tired of running away. For what's important, for _her_ , he'll try.


	16. surreal

He doesn't cry at her funeral. His body is there, but he isn't. Not like it matters; no one knows how to look at him anymore anyway, just like with Miki. But he cried for Miki. He watches tears roll down Mitsuru's cheeks, and he wonders distantly if something inside him finally broke.

Their return is quiet. Their dorm is quiet. He wasn't in denial, but realizing she'll never fill another silence with her laugh finally makes it real.

He can't breathe. Red-hot tears blind him as he staggers into his room.

He smothers himself with his pillow, and screams.


	17. swapping spit, 1

Consciously, Akihiko knows this isn't everything he's ever wanted or something equally dramatic, but with every movement of Minako's lips against his, that doesn't stop every thought in his head from exploding into raw emotion and blinding color.

He opens his eyes only to meet her closed lids, and affection fills him, floods him until he's drowning and using her breath as his own. His eyes flutter shut with a sigh. Fingers threading through her hair, other hand gripping her waist, Akihiko pulls her into him.

He's never asked for much. This moment is his, and he'll make it last.


	18. swapping spit, 2

With Akihiko's lips caressing hers, pressing deeper, seeking more, Minako can't help but wonder: is he kissing _her_ , or The Star?

Is The Star making her heart race, her stomach flutter? Is The Star his words of comfort, his shoulder to lean on?

Is Minako Arisato nothing more than a walking masquerade, a vessel of fragmented souls, eyes without a face?

Suddenly, he whispers, "I love you," and flowers bloom in her chest for the butterflies inside her.

Her questions aren't answered. But someone says through her smiling lips, "I love you, too," and she knows, either way, it's true.


End file.
